2019 Year In Review - Blog Highlights and Favorite New Products

Happy New Year & welcome to the Stacy’s Savings 2019 Year In Review!

Thanks to everyone who made time to visit the blog this year, and welcome to all of the new faces! Without your support, I wouldn’t be able to do what I love doing. So thank you very much. I hope that you’ve picked up some new ideas to help you live a more frugal life without sacrifice.

The kitchen remodel really sucked up all of my time over the last six months, and I haven’t been able to blog as consistently as I’ve wanted to. I tried to keep you updated on Instagram as best I could. That’s one of the things I want to change in 2020. We shouldn’t have any all-consuming projects, so I should have more time to do just that.

This 2019 Year In Review post is going to be a sort of wrap up of the year on the blog. We are heading out of town today to celebrate the New Year in New Orleans and watch our Baylor Bears take on the Georgia Bulldogs in the Sugar Bowl. This is our first trip away from our kids for more than 2 nights in almost a decade. We’re actually flying on a plane for the first time since 2015 if you can believe that. We’re very excited & I can’t wait to tell you all about it!

I wanted to start by looking back at some of the blog’s highlights of 2019. We had a lot of projects going on, but we also had some optimizations that made things go a little more smoothly around the house.

Blog Highlights

We started 2019 off with the 3 Books That Will Change Your Life. I hope you read them, but if you didn’t, there’s always this year! These books really will change your life. Why not start now?

I showed you How to Install Large Recessed Electrical Outlets with USB Ports for either side of your bed back in February. This was part of the Mini-Master Bedroom Makeover. This quick & budget friendly project will also change your life! For us, it meant no more extension cords with extra outlets under our nightstands. We can now plug in up to 6 items on each side of the bed!

In March, I revealed our Mini-Master Bedroom Makeover. I’m still loving this project!

In April, I told you about the New Cleaning Routine that I found. We’re still following it today, and it’s been amazing! We’ve really saved a lot of time, and our house is cleaner than ever!

Then came all of the kitchen remodeling. We remodeled our kitchen & laundry room as well as built a new walk-in pantry. This was a HUGE project that took us almost 6 months to complete. We still have a few small things to do in order to call it really finished, and I’m hoping to have the reveals for you in January. There were lots of posts in this series (its such a huge job):

Wow! I’m exhausted just reading that list! We do most of the work ourselves, so you can see why I’ve been really busy over the last 6 months!

Our Budget

We are still using YNAB as our budgeting software and we’re still loving it! We didn’t really have any crazy events pop up this year, and we’re on track to be able to do some really fun things in 2020! One of my planned posts for January is to update you on our YNAB journey.

This year, I decided to keep separate budgets for a few of our categories on our main budget in order to track spending. For example, I have a Vacation Budget that matches the Vacation Category amount in our main budget. But, the separate budget allowed me to break that category down into subcategories. This came in really handy for our Disney World Trip. I’m going to do a blog post about exactly how I did this in 2020.

2019 Favorite Products

Finally for the 2019 Year In Review, I wanted to share with you some of the new products that I tried in 2019 that have become daily favorites!

Christmas Gifts

First, a couple of Christmas gifts that I got this year are new daily accessories.

I told my husband I wanted this tiny diamond chip necklace, and he actually bought it! It’s so beautiful and sparkly, and it really wasn’t that expensive. It goes on sale frequently, and it was 20% off when he bought it. This is the .10ct 16″ necklace in yellow gold. There are different sizes and colors to choose from. It shipped right away in a cute gift box. I highly recommend this!

My friend gave me this cute little Friendship Bracelet with a tiny sparkle on it, and I love it! It’s very dainty, but the chunky bar gives it a little statement. You get two in a set so you can keep one and give one!

Santa brought me this Kitchen Aid Mixer bowl from Santa to make having it on the counter a little more pretty. I love the mermaid scale detail!

Beauty Products

I tried a few new beauty products this year that have made it into my daily routine. First, this Tula eye balm is amazing! It’s cooling and helps your concealer go on more smoothly. It also adds a little highlight to your under eye area. I added this to my Amazon Storefront for you along with lots of my favorite things.

I love Laneige Skincare Products. Their Lip Sleeping Mask is park of my nightly skincare routine. This year, I tried their Water Sleeping Mask and their Berry Lip Balm. I’m actually going to Sephora today to get travel sized versions of the sleeping masks to take on our trip because I cannot live without them.

In February, I started using this affordable clay face mask every Wednesday, and it has made a huge difference in my skin. It draws everything out. Just be sure to remove it with a paper towel nearby because it is thick can clog your pipes. You can get the budget-friendly mask mixing set with Prime shipping as well.

Clothes & Shoes

I didn’t buy much in the way of new clothes this year, but I did add a few things to my wardrobe that were on sale over the course of the year.

For Mother’s Day, I took advantage of a Triple Points weekend, cashed in some Notes, and splurged on these fancy sandals. They were expensive, but they are so comfortable, and I wore them pretty much all Summer. I’m thinking about investing in the gold pair next.

I picked up these overalls (they only have tall left) on mega sale and they are so comfortable! I love how you can wear them all year. They no longer have this color in stock, but they do have them in a darker blue wash and a black version.

My favorite buy of the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale are my faux leather leggings. I wear these all the time.

I also got the Moonlight Pajamas at the NSale. I’ve heard amazing things about these super soft pajamas, so I bought 3 pair. I absolutely love these. I now want the night dress and another pair of the short set. I’m just waiting for them to go on sale, of course.

My new clear gameday bag with leather trim is coming with me to New Orleans. I love how much it holds and that it is hands-free.

Speaking of our New Orleans trip, I saw that it was going to rain there while we’re there, and my only rain boots are purple. You can’t wear purple to a Baylor game. I fixed that by finding these packable green Hunter boots on sale yesterday! They also come in a very dark grey color.

Finally, this v-neck t-shirt is super affordable and comes in a ton of colors with Prime shipping. I love it because its sort of oversized, it has a nice weight, and the length allows you to wear it with leggings. I’m planning on picking up a few more colors in 2020.

House Favorites

The one thing that I got this year that totally changed my life around my house is this little robot vacuum. I love the low profile of the charging dock. Plus, it has a logical cleaning pattern that you can track it on your smartphone. It also mops!

So that’s it for the Stacy’s Savings 2019 Year In Review. It was a great year around our house, and I hope it was a great year for you as well! Thank you for your support. Have a safe and Happy New Year, and we’ll see you in 2020 with the new Weekly Savings Challenge!

~Stacy